Twenty-five or 30 major-league scouts fixed their radar guns on Avery Short each time the Southport left-hander reached inside his glove and prepared to pitch. Most of these scouts were the national crosscheckers, there to get a look at Short before the major league baseball draft on June 3.

On the field at Grand Park in Westfield, it was not pretty. Throwing into a stiff wind on a cool evening, Short popped catcher Nick Lynn’s glove with fastballs in the high 80s, just a shade off his top-end velocity of 92 miles per hour, but a impressive speed considering the elements. But the wind, whipping across the flat farm fields, played havoc with any ball hit in the air.

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With a couple dozen major-league scouts in attendance at his game on June 3, Avery Short was battling a stiff wind.(Photo: Matt Kryger/IndyStar)

Cincinnati Moeller, the opponent that evening, hit a few balls hard off Short. But it was mostly mistakes, maybe eight or 10 plays that could have been made, that eventually contributed heavily to Moeller’s 8-6 win.

“Those were not good conditions to play in,” Southport’s 77-year old coach, Phil Webster, said later. “If you’ve pitched before, you know it’s hard to get the ball down in the wind. The only difference A.J. could have made was to throw more changeups and breaking balls. But he kept his composure when everything was going crazy around him. He never got out of himself. And that was what the professional guys there were looking for. I think he won some points in that regard.”

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Southport High School pitcher Avery Short cheers on his teammates during their game against Moeller (OH) High School at Grand Park in Westfield on Friday, April 12, 2019.(Photo: Matt Kryger/IndyStar)

Short, in what must have been one of most frustrating outings of his high school career, showed no visible frustration in that outing April 12. He took the ball after each error, looked in at Lynn – his catcher since sixth grade and good friend since they were first graders at Mary Bryan Elementary School – and took the sign.

“I feel like I can look up and we are winning 10-0 or losing 10-0 and he still has the same face, the same composure,” Lynn said.

It is a rare time when Short is trailing 10-0 – or trailing at all. The University of Louisville commit is considered the top in-state high school prospect in the senior class and several mock drafts have him going as high as early in the second round of the June draft. Short’s overall makeup is bolstered by his low 90s fastball, along with the ability to control all five of his pitches – a two-seam fastball, four-seam fastball, slider, changeup and curveball.

David Chamberlin, a Southport varsity assistant who has coached Short since the seventh grade, said Short’s ability to throw all five of those pitches for a strike is part of what sets him apart. Then there is something else, something Chamberlin can see but is hard to quantify.

“There is that unexplainable ‘it’ factor with A.J.,” Chamberlin said. “Whatever that is, he’s got it. He wants to be the guy with the ball. You can’t teach that. But he’s a cerebral pitcher. He’s always on the mound, thinking three or four steps ahead. If you get four at-bats on him, he remembers what you did three at-bats ago.”

Short was at one time committed to Indiana — before Chris Lemonis left to take the job at Mississippi State last June. Though he is now committed to Louisville, there is a good chance he will have a serious decision to make after the draft in June.

“I remember the first time I talked to a college at the beginning of my freshman year and it was a shock to me,” Short said. “I don’t remember the conversation (it was with Indiana), but I remember pacing the hallway I was so nervous.”

A steady stream of scouts came through the Short family's house in the offseason. He answered questions about baseball, filled out questionnaires, took eye tests. It is all part of the scouting process as teams decide whether to invest millions of dollars in a prospect.

Southport High School pitcher Avery Short high fives teammate after hitting a base hit during their game against Moeller (OH) High School at Grand Park in Westfield on Friday, April 12, 2019. Matt Kryger/IndyStar

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“It’s kind of fun actually,” Short said. “Most of the (the teams) came in for in-home visits to try to get to know me. You talk about baseball and everything. Some of the questionnaires have like 250 questions. But most of that is done in the offseason. Most of the scouts understand the situation guys are in and dial down the dialogue during the season.”

The 6-2, 205-pound Short, who will make his next start Friday at Victory Field against Avon, was 3-2 last season with a 0.86 earned run average for Southport. Most impressive were his 93 strikeouts and six walks in 48 2/3 innings.

But Short’s stock really took off in full when he was one of the top performers at USA Baseball’s Tournament of Stars last June in North Carolina. He was the only player from Indiana named to the 18U USA team trials in Florida last November.

“By far that was my best baseball experience,” Short said. “There are 84 guys there for the Tournament of Stars and then the last day they cut it down to 40 and you scrimmage against the college national team. I got to pitch that game and it was awesome. From there they take 28 guys for the training roster and we went to Florida in November.”

Short, who turned 18 last month, pitched twice there and was named to the 20-player roster for the COPABE U-18 Pan-American Championships in Panama. He went 2-0 for Team USA with a 2.45 ERA, with five strikeouts and one walk in 7 1/3 innings.

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Southport pitcher Avery Short delivered a pitch to a Moeller (Ohio) batter during their game April 12 at Grand Park in Westfield.(Photo: Matt Kryger/IndyStar)

“My favorite part was repping my country,” he said. “It’s just a whole different level when you are wearing that ‘USA’ across your chest.”

There are some comparisons of Short to veteran Jon Lester, which is not a bad thing considering the 35-year-old Chicago Cub has 178 big-league wins over 14 seasons. But Short, a former hockey player, also has a simmering competitive drive that he sees in one of his favorite major-league pitchers – Max Scherzer.

“I love the approach he takes on the mound,” Short said. “He’s a bulldog out there. He tries to strike everybody out. That’s kind of my approach, too.”

Webster calls Short “our Cadillac.” But beneath that calm exterior is a fire.

“I’m watching every day and I love his competitiveness,” Webster said. “Sometimes you see kids get hit and they will kind of go away. Not A.J. He comes back biting. That’s what sets him apart, is that competitiveness.”